Prince Of Persia: The Two Thrones : Games : Web Wombat

Prince of Persia, a classic game and a must-have for all self-respecting PS2 game players, especially the ones who like fighting while trying to solve puzzles.

Now, I know the people who've played the other Prince of Persia's -- like Warrior Within and Revelations -- are probably thinking "yeah but they're all the same".

Reasonably detailed graphics, killing and maiming and jumping and spiraling off walls like a lemur on acid. Wrong.

Although the graphics remain similar, and the gameplay too, they've added enough extras here to warrant closer inspection, and the storyline is pretty sweet too, making this title more than just "more of the same".

For those of you who haven't been following the Prince's story (shame on you all! Unless the heating up of the Earth's atmosphere has been spooking you), here's whats happened:

The Prince of Persia, with his army, travelled to the capital of the Indian empire, where he tried taking it over. And fair enough too. India's a beautiful place, with s much character. Amongst all the fighting and war in the Indian empire, an evil Vizier caused the release of the sands of time. The sands wreaked havoc over all the nearby villages and countryside, transforming men into undead scourges, which of course the Fresh Prince of Arabia had to kill. One by one. With a spoon. Well, he had a sword, but it was still a tough task! So the Prince and an Indian princess named Farah battled the Vizier, kicked his righteous arse and bottled the majik sands to return the world to it's normal state.

Time for a bit of rest and relaxation and perhaps the odd game of Texas Hold 'Em, you'd think? Sure, why not. You just saved the world for a rift in the very fabric of time itself.

But no. It wasn't over. A huge, unstoppable creature called the Dahaka chased the prince for his part in the opening of the sands of time. A punishment, I suppose. It was only natural that the Prince should flee to the Island of Time, where he hoped to find peace. Instead he found himself raided by the Empress of Time and had to fight against the Dahaka. Can a Prince get no time off? It appears not...

Now, in this latest game, the Prince travels to Babylon from the Island of Time with his new love, Kaileena (the Empress of Time). With no Dahaka on the Princes' shoulders, everything will be fine when he returns to his home village....

So it sounds pretty good - you go home, no problemo. Where's the deck of cards, the chips, the beer? Dang! Your new girlfriend has just been killed, and the sands of time are being re-opened and the evil Vizier is returning.

The game begins with you standing inertly at the entrance of Babylon after being shot from your ship by a fairly large number of bad guys. You drift to shore, where Kaileena is dragged off by two guards. You go after her, and that's where the fun starts. Of course you go through all that boring tutorial stuff first (but useful for first timers), and it gets better.

A new feature of the game is where you can perform silent kills on enemies. Simply sneak up in a covert way behind your foe and hit triangle. The Prince sneaks up behind the victim, then a really cool black and white slow-mo part comes up, Tenchu-style, and you stab him, and stab him again... Until he dies. Sure it's violent, but it's not real, so no one gets hurt. Better than going to war over falsified intelligence, surely?

Then when you get a bit further after chasing Kaileena for a while you get some powers (as I rub my hands together with glee). The first power is being able to turn back time, so if I fall off a building or get stabbed in the nut sack, I can just rewind seven or eight seconds and do it again, it's great. Then there's the power of being able to turn into a very powerful form - a creature of mass destruction, you might say. In this form, you get a huge whip, some useful new attacks and the strength of a twelve kilotonne plutonic bomb.

But the game isn't all about extras, the gameplay is more what the Prince of Persia is all about. Jumping from wall to wall, ladder to ladder and being able to run across walls like an over-muscled ballet dancer.

I love the puzzles in this game too - they give the game variety and make you use your brain too. It's really fun, because you can get stuck for a few minutes and then figure it out and complete all the tasks until the next really challenging bit. Sure, this may be a new game, but it reminded me of the good old days of gaming, when Sonic was king and RPG's were 2D.

There's lots of action, lots of puzzles and ultimately it's lots of fun.

I mean really, this gameplay is some of the best I've ever seen. It's a classic 'anything is possible' game where you can do heaps of cool tricks, stunts and kills. The extras included to the gameplay make it just more awesome than it already is. My only criticism would be that some of the parts of the game are just too unrealistic, because it can get confusing, but I guess when your tearing the very fabric of times itself, realism is probably not super important. But all in all, it's great.

The graphics are pretty good, but because the gameplay is so flawless, possibly the best I've seen, the graphics tend not to blow you away. It's understandable that with all the features this new game has, you can't afford top quality graphics, because you'd take up the whole DVD, and have to drop the gameplay, the number of moves and the frame rate would suffer, which of course Ubisoft have said no to, and I agree. Wise decision Ubi Overlord.

The graphics are not what make the game, and the PS2 struggles with the increasing amount of triangles and detail (read : the Xbox version looks better) but they still convey the feel of ancient Arabia very nicely. Anyway, the in-game graphics aren't great, but they're not terrible either.

Something that is great however, is the sounds. The sound is GREAT. The music score in this game suits it so perfectly, that it adds to the enjoyment of playing and really sets the mood, drawing you into the Arabian setting. Also they added a feature where, when you pause the game, the narrator of the story (Kaileena) will say something like “Oh, you're taking a break, I understand”. When I first heard that, I thought someone else was talking to me, so I sat frozen on the couch ready to step into the next phase of existence, taken by some mystical natural phenomenon of great import. Then I realised it was the T.V.... But all in all, great sound and superb quality.

So who should be playing this game? I'd say world leaders first and foremost (the French would love it, as would the Turks), followed by misunderstood sporting identities. And what of the old man in the chair? I think if he could get through the tutorial, he'd be loving it, as I must say it's a terrifically envisioned videogame, one that makes you remember why you love this electronic entertainment. Overall, fantastic gameplay, good graphics and great sound and music, which equals a great game and many hours of gaming happiness!

Game: Prince Of Persia: The Two Thrones
System: PS2
Players: 1
Online: No
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Distributor: Ubisoft

Rating: 95%

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